Pay with sibuyas! Japan Home Centre will take onions as payment on February 4

MANILA, Philippines – Can you imagine – we are now living in a world where onions have become currency! The Philippines’ Japan Home Centre (JHC) will be accepting the elusive (and expensive) sibuyas (onion) as payment for select in-store items only on Saturday, February 4.

In a Wednesday, February 2 Facebook post, the retail store announced its first “pay with sibuyas” promo, where they will accept one onion in exchange for the customer’s chosen product. A maximum of three items per purchase will be allowed per customer. The promo is exclusive to Japan Home Centre’s Panay Avenue branch only, located at 84 Panay Avenue, Quezon City, near Victoria Towers.

All collected onions will be used for a community pantry, JHC said. They will also still accept cash and coins for the select items.

There are no specific details on the size or kinds of onion yet, but might as well bring a variety if you can!

Japan Home Centre is “the country’s first and original Japanese discount P88 store.” According to its website, it traces its humble beginnings to an old warehouse in Quezon City. The brand opened its first branch in 2004 in Market! Market!, Taguig City.

Currently, the Philippines is seeing skyrocketing, anti-competitive prices of onions in the market. Based on the Department of Agriculture (DA)’s price monitoring data, local red onions were sold in markets for P480 to P600 per kilo, and white onions at around P450 to P700. Such prices are 607% more costly than the international average, which is $1.54 per kilo or around P84.87, based on the Global Product Prices database. – Rappler.com